


Underhand

by Laramie



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 19:25:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17106683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laramie/pseuds/Laramie
Summary: Chambergambit kindly let me write this brief, playful modern au of her wonderful fic Overheard. My little tribute to the fic I love so much.





	Underhand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chambergambit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chambergambit/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Overheard](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11915106) by [chambergambit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chambergambit/pseuds/chambergambit). 



"Thomas, it's been like... six months."

"Eight," Thomas corrects Andy. "Not that it's anything to do with you."

Andy raises his eyebrows.

Thomas takes a deep breath and sighs. "Alright, sorry. But my love life, or lack of it, is not something I want to talk about."

"Even when you still love Jimmy?" Andy challenges.

"I actually really don't," Thomas says. He's not sure if that is true, but he wants it to be.

"So come out with us! For god's sake, I'm not asking you to marry someone, I'm literally just asking you to a party."

Thomas is actually starting to be persuaded by the thought of loud music and copious alcohol, but he isn't going to back down too easily. "Whose party is it again?"

"Henry's throwing a fancy-dress birthday party for one of his old mates from the army," Andy explains patiently. There's a look on his face like he knows Thomas is wavering, and Thomas realises how much he has changed since Jimmy left Downton Hotel. Or rather, since he had been sacked for getting caught having sex with one of the guests on company time.

Thomas was heartbroken at the time, and for far too long after, but now... Well, now it's about time he actually gets out and tries to enjoy himself a bit.

\---

"Do you really think she'll say yes?" Andy asks anxiously. "I mean, meeting the parents is a big deal for some people. I don't want to scare her off."

"You've been going out for nearly a _year_ ," Thomas points out, exasperation and amusement warring for top place in his emotions.

They're sat at one of the tables around the edge of the smaller function room at Downton Hotel. It's a conference room during the day, which is rather obvious; the walls are painted white, with the tall wooden skirting boards typical to places like this. The vibe of the party is somewhere between a pub, a club and a university cafeteria: the bar doesn't stretch to much more than beer, wine and a couple of spirits; the music is just a little too loud for easy conversation; and a group of people in the corner are building a tower out of toilet rolls. A waft of smoke drifts over, and Thomas's hand goes reflexively to his pocket before he remembers the smoking ban. He wonders idly how long it will be before Carson tracks down the errant nicotine addicts; Carson hates smoking, and he'll be keen to impress Henry Talbot, who booked the party, and who is a recent addition-by-marriage to the family who owns the hotel.

Thomas smirks to himself at the thought of Carson's red-faced rage, before continuing his previous remark to Andy: "If anything, she might be starting to think you're hiding a really weird family from her."

Andy looks horrified. "D'you think I've left it too long? Oh god, what if Daisy thinks they're all terrible people?"

"Then she'll find out as soon as she meets them that they're terribly ordinary, boring people," Thomas says, rolling his eyes. He goes to take a sip of his pint, but someone passing jogs his shoulder as they go, almost knocking his face into it. An instant later, a strange, reddish object falls into Thomas's lap. He blinks at it for a second before concluding that no, he's not that drunk and therefore yes, it is definitely a parrot toy.

"Oi!" he says, to a mass of wild brown hair which is all he can see of the back of the stranger's head. "Watch where you're dropping your avians."

The wavy hair bounces as the figure spins; the guy then pauses, as though he needs a moment to collect himself after such a manoeuvre. Then the brightest grin Thomas has ever seen stretches across his face. Thomas's stomach twists a little, though he's not sure why; he wouldn't have called the man a stunner, exactly. It's probably quite difficult to look attractive in a makeshift pirate costume, though Thomas suspects some people would be into it. There is definitely something about that smile, though.

"Chuck it over, then."

Thomas does so. The pirate grabs for it with one hand, the other already holding a wooden crutch. He almost catches the parrot, but then fumbles it and drops it to the ground. He makes a show of leaning on the wooden crutch to retrieve the bird from the ground before using it to knock out a mock salute. "Much obliged sir, arr," he says in a pirate-y voice. He hobbles forward a step. "Me name's pirate Seth Starling."

"I'm Thomas," says Thomas, narrowing his eyes at whatever Seth has covered his left leg with to make it look like a fake. "And don't you think it's a bit offensive to be dressing up as Long John Silver and staggering around with the pretend prosthetic leg and everything?"

Seth grins at him again, giving Thomas the sudden urge to punch him. He leans down and grips his shin - and does a strange little movement Thomas has never seen anyone do before - and then he is straightening up with the crutch in one hand and the detached lower part of his leg in the other.

Ah. Not a pretend prosthetic leg, then; a genuine one. Thomas feels a hot wave of shame, anger and embarrassment all mixed together. He is suddenly very aware of Andy staring at him, wide-eyed, from across the table. "Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'," says Seth, but he is still smiling as he hops closer and twists to hitch his butt against the edge of their table to reattach his leg. "I would say you put your foot in your mouth but, ah, probably easier for me, that one."

"I-I'm sorry -" Thomas stammers.

"I mean, bless you for trying," Seth says as he gives his prosthetic foot a final, experimental wiggle. "But yeah, it's a real one." He brow furrows. "A real fake," he adds, and laughs to himself. "Anyway, I'm gonna dance." He tips his tricorner pirate hat. "See you later, eh, Thomas?"

Thomas watches him make his surefooted way among the crowd, gaping. The parrot is on the floor again, Seth having dropped and forgotten it again at some point.

"Um, what just happened?" Andy asks in a perplexed tone.

"Nothing," Thomas replies immediately, wondering why it feels like he's lying. He can feel himself colouring up. To hide his face from Andy, he ducks to retrieve the parrot and props it against one of their empties. Maybe Seth will come back to collect it.

When Thomas looks back at Andy, Andy is watching him and biting his lip. There's a strange expression on his face.

"What?" Thomas demands self-consciously.

Andy shrugs innocently. "You're not going to dance with him, then?"

"After I made an enormous prat of myself? Pretty sure he won't want to see me again. He'll be straight, anyway." Pining after Jimmy, who had been utterly, tragically straight, for so long, leaves Thomas very wary of landing himself in the same situation again.

"He's not," says Andy promptly - a little too promptly. His eyes widen.

Thomas frowns at him. "And how would you know?"

Andy looks a bit shifty. "Seth is, um, Henry's friend. It's his birthday party. Him and Henry, um... Had something going on after they got back from Iraq."

This explains very little - Andy knows Henry barely more than Thomas does - and yet suddenly Thomas has an inkling of what has been happening. "And how exactly did I come to be invited to this stranger's birthday party?"

"Um..." Andy fidgets with his glass. "Henry... said I should invite you." He looks up to see Thomas's glare and then sighs heavily, apparently giving up. "We were talking about his wife, and Daisy, and I might have mentioned something about Jimmy, and, well, he suggested you come along. Meet Seth."

"Because all gay men are attracted to all other gay men," Thomas says scathingly, even as his eyes seek out Seth in the crowd.

"No!" Andy looks mortified. "We didn't mean anything like that. He just thought you might get on. You don't have many gay friends," he finishes in a mumble.

This is true, but it is also, Thomas thinks irritably, _none of their business_. Henry barely even knows him. "I'm not your little gay project," he snarls, and marches off.

He heads towards the bar, because he doesn't feel like dancing and there isn't much else to do here except buy another drink. He is already berating himself for snapping at Andy.

He has been waiting about ten seconds when he realises that the person arguing heatedly with the barman is none other than Seth Starling himself.

"But it's my birthday!" he is shouting.

Thinking he will probably regret getting involved, Thomas asks: "What's happening?"

"He won't give me any rum!" Seth says at once, rather loudly. "How can I be a pirate without rum?"

"We don't _have_ any," the barman says with exasperation. He has the largest biceps Thomas has ever seen in real life and is wearing a loose, navy blue vest to make sure people notice.

"What sort of bar are you?!"

Thomas loses his patience. He is being treated like a pathetic plaything by one of his waiters and a man he barely knows, and now the man they are trying to matchmake him with is getting in the way of him having a drink. He seizes Seth by the frills on his pirate shirt and drags him away from the bar. Seth opens his mouth, presumably to protest, and Thomas slaps a hand over it.

"You are pissed, and I am pissed off," he says as calmly as he can manage. "So stand here and shut up while I get my drink, understand?" He lets go experimentally. Seth is glaring up at him, a strange heat in his eyes, but says nothing, so Thomas gives a sharp nod of approval and returns to the bar, breathing deeply. He's not thinking about the appraising look Seth gave him just before he turned away, he's _definitely_ not thinking about it.

He catches the barman's attention. "I'll have a lager, please. And a lemonade for my idiot friend."

He resists the urge to look round while his drinks are being prepared, to see whether Seth is watching him. They've known each other about five minutes and all Thomas has done so far is embarrass himself and lose his temper. Seth has probably wandered off.

Seth is waiting exactly where Thomas left him. He accepts the lemonade Thomas pushes into his hand with a curious tilt of his head. "Um, thanks." He watches the bubbles in the glass for a moment. "I'm not drunk, you know."

"Sure," Thomas says sceptically.

"No, really. Been on water all night. This is how mad I am when I'm sober. I just wanted to get into character with the rum." He gestures at his pirate outfit.

"It's fancy dress, not amateur dramatics," Thomas points out.

" _You're_ not even dressed up," Seth counters.

Thomas smiles smugly, glancing down his suit. "I'm a servant from the 1900s."

"That's not very imaginative."

"No," Thomas concedes. "I do look good in a suit, though."

Seth's gaze trails down his body and up again. He smiles, licking his lips, and something hot and heavy seems to drop into Thomas's stomach. "True enough."

Thomas hides his smile in his drink.


End file.
